History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

Author(s): Hiralal R Kapadia, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 81

THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS That the sacred works of the Jainas were not freely reduced to writing for several centuries and thus for this period the services of the art of writing remained practically unutilized for lightening the burden of the memory, requires a satisfactory explanation. In the case of the Vaidika literature it may be argued that its sacred character was partly responsible for this; for, it was probably feared that the most sacred possession of the race might pass into profane hands, if the Vedas were committed to writing. Furthermore the necessary guidance for cultivating proper accent and intonation-a point of great could be had from the lips of an animate teacher and not from the pages of an inanimate book.2 Over and above this, there was a danger of a scribe committing dittographic and haplographic errors and at times misreading the characters and thus transforming the orig recognition. I do not think it is any one of these considerations that weighed heavily in the minds of the Jaina saints and that prevented them from reducing to writing the sacred works of their school. On the contrary it appears that their desire of strictly observing their noble and ennobling mahāvrata viz. aparigrapha prevented them from resorting to writing. Moreover, those saints who kept Mss. were denounced. This is borne out by the Cunni (p. 21)4 on Dasaveyāliya, the Bhāsas on Nisīha, the Bhāsa on Kappa etc. Further, penances were prescribed to those who wrote even one letter. But the times, as it were, willed it otherwise, and in course of time these rules had to be modified, so much so that permission was given for keeping any of the five types of Mss. pertaining to the Nijjuttis of kāliyasuyalo, on finding that 1-3 See Dr. A. S. Altekar's Education in Ancient India (pp. 145-146). 4. "Taca duracy HT Has" 5-6. "Tren fru Pont ami ata un g" 7. "Eiferente ant jaifa dufa a sferen art 1
afa for fara a afa ET 37105 II" - Bhāsa on Kappa 8. In the Cunni (p. 21) on Dasaveyāliya it is said: " CU TSE TUTAWIET
अवोच्छित्तिनिमित्तं च गेण्हमाणस्स पोत्थए संजमो भवइ ।" 9. See my paper Outlines of Palaeography (pp. 101-102). 10. In the Bhāsa on Nisīha (XII) it is observed : " fa tremount of more latest